The Cheesecake Factory

For our anniversary, Nathan and I spent the evening at USA Baby, the temple, and to top the night off--the Cheesecake Factory. Let me just say that I am not an avid "Cheesecake Factory" lover...I know that many are. Not because I don't like it...just because I haven't really been often enough to have an opinion. And Nathan couldn't remember ever eating there since one time in high school. So after a suggestion by my sister, Kristie, I made the executive decision to eat there for our anniversary. And let me tell you...we will be back! We both loved it so much. The food was great (and not super pricey). And I think we picked possibly one of the best slices of cheesecake on the menu. We're not even huge on cheesecake...and this piece had us wanting more... It was the lemon-raspberry, in case any one wants to give it a try! It's totally worth it. The perfect blend of tart and sweet. Very refreshing. Anyways...I just had to put a plug in for The Cheesecake Factory. It was a great night and we are now huge fans!

Nathan went so far as to claim this burger as the best he's ever had!

I LOVED my sandwich! It was like a BLT with a layer of shrimp on the bottom and some kind of awesome sauce mixed in...sooo good. I recommend it.

2 Years

Today is our 2 year anniversary and I figured since I wasn't a part of the blogging world when we did get married that I'd share a few pictures from that wonderful day! I love thinking about my wedding day. It was perfect. I couldn't have imagined anything more. Every detail just came together so well. Beautiful weather, awesome decorations, delicious food, amazing family and friends...I get warm fuzzies just thinking about it. And best of all, I was sealed to my sweet Nathan for time and all eternity. What an amazing thing. I am so grateful to be with him and for all of the wonderful times we've shared since then and for all of the great things we have before us. He is so perfect for me and continues to love me, support me, and make me laugh every day! I can't wait to see him in the 'daddy role' in just a few months! :) He really is a wonderful husband and I am so grateful to have him as my companion and friend forever and ever!

(ok...enough sap. sorry...but let's face it, Nathan usually gets laughed about and made fun of when commented on on this blog...so I figured he deserved a little credit and for everyone to know how much I really do love him!)

Just some pictures from that beautiful day...mostly to show you all how much fun we had ;)

This was Nathan's idea...not that anyone would think otherwise

Showin' off the bling. Good thing Nathan is now wearing his 3rd wedding ring in only 2 years! (I take that back...the good thing is that we never spend more than $30 on his rings!)

The standard portrait picture

Great shot of the temple

This is Nathan's favorite picture so I had to put it in there!

This is just a candid of us having a good time at our reception! I love it because it really shows how much fun we were having and how happy we were!

Outside our reception center at sun-down...beautiful

Great Night

Safe & Sound

Well, as you may have noticed...our Sentra is no longer a loner in the parking lot. Our little civic has come home to us. We got a call on Thursday night that our Civic had been found abandoned about 5 miles from our house. That's the good news. The bad news is the tow company so graciously took it to their place about 30 miles from our house. So we made the trek into downtown Phoenix, paid the man 100 bucks, and took our poor little car back home. We were anxious to see what kind of damage had been done. To our surprise, everything was pretty much left as it was. Unfortunately, our stereo was gone, again...this time the thief did a nice job of taking it out though, and left the dashboard intact. Our GPS system was gone (no surprise there). But the saddest part of all...they took a liking to our jeans blanket and it was gone too! Seriously. I was shocked. They left other random crap in the car...but they had to take the blanket. So disappointing. But nevertheless, we are grateful that we got our car back and that it still drives and all. It saves us the headache of having to find a new car. I just can't help but feel like it may not be the last time we lose our civic. But for now...we are back up to being a two car family again. Just wanted to let you all know.

"Hey Nathan, where's our other car?!"

This past Sunday morning we walked out of our apartment to go to church, only to be greeted by a rather shocking surprise: Our poor little Honda Civic was no where to be found. That's right folks, we got robbed...Our Nissan Sentra sat all alone, the space next door was vacant. It's such a weird feeling having something so big stolen from you. We thought it was a pretty big deal when our car stereo was taken from the civic back in Provo...but the whole car!? Honestly people...what is the world coming to. All we can say at this point is, we are so grateful that we have another car right now. And really...it's all just material things and not the end of the world...just frustrating. The sad part is, we knew the day we moved here that our little civic was in danger. Apparently it is the most commonly stolen vehicle (something about them being easy to steal...which in my opinion needs to be brought to Honda's attention). We had also left our GPS unit in the glove box, so now that's gone. And the worst one of all...the jeans blanket that my mom made us for our wedding was in the trunk! Goodness gracious robbers...at least leave the items with sentimental value behind! Oh well...that's life I guess. I've still got hope that maybe the car will be found some time in the next couple weeks, but Nathan isn't quite as optimistic. He says if they find it it won't be functional anymore. I guess we'll just have to wait and see. So that's my story for the weekend.

Some other highlights of the weekend...
Nathan's grandma had her 80th birthday party so Nate's parents and his sister Erin came in town for that. We spent a lot of the weekend in Mesa with everyone and had lots of fun. Once again, no pictures from that event. I really need to work on that.

Just before leaving for Mesa on Saturday, I was rounding the corner into our kitchen to grab my Tums (crucial)...and I totally fell over the dishwasher that had been left open. I kind of broke the fall with my knee but ended up landing quite a bit on my tummy (quite the cushy landing, actually)! Poor baby! I was so scared that I might have hurt him...I know they are pretty well protected in there, but believe me I've seen it all. So that was kind of traumatic for me. After feeling some very reassuring kicks and not being in any pain and such...I decided it was ok. My pregnancy week by week book even talked about 'falls' for week 24. Hah! Guess they knew what they were talking about. I forget that my center of gravity is a little off so I probably need to be more careful in the future. But we're grateful that everything is ok!

Please ignore everything in the picture other than the belly...I'm trying to be better about taking frequent belly pictures, but let's face it...I don't get myself ready that often these days. So we'll just have to settle for regular Jessica on her way to work...24.6wks

Stuff

Here are a few quick pictures of some random things. As far as new news goes, Nathan commissioned into the Air Force on Friday. So it's a done deal. It was a little scary to actually go through with it, but we feel good about the decision now that it's done. I'm still working on trying to get some pictures of Christmas so I can post them. For now enjoy these! Love you all!
Well if this isn't a belly I don't know what is...23.5 wks!

Nathan getting sworn in (kind of a bad picture cause you can't even see his face!)

Nathan waxing a tooth before Christmas break

Christmas

First off, let me apologize for not only the long absence of posting...but for posting this without any pictures! I guess I was a little too lazy over the holidays and had a little too much fun because I didn't take a SINGLE picture! I'm horrible. I am going to have to get better at this. So I contemplated waiting until I get some pictures from family members..but that could be another week so I figured I'd go ahead and give a quick update. I promise there are pictures to come!

So another Christmas has come and gone. This is my first post of 2009! We had a great time with Brooke and her family for Christmas Eve/morning. It was so fun to be with little kids for Christmas...I forgot what it was like :). They were just so excited about everything...it was totally fun just watching them. I worked Christmas Day night and the next morning we flew to Portland. We had so much fun in Oregon. It's always a bonus for me when we go up to Oregon to be with Ashley and her family because I get to see all of my cousins too! I got to see Janea's triplets and they were adorable! Jerai and Phil came just before New Years so I got to see them briefly too, which was great! So I spent a wonderful six days relaxing, playing games, and watching movies with Nathan and his family/my cousins. Macie, Ashley's oldest girl, turned eight and we got to go to her baptism too. It was a great trip. I was so sad to leave early on New Year's day. Nathan got to stay up there until Saturday night but I had to go back to work. That's life. I thought it was funny that when I walked out of the Phoenix airport I was a little upset at how warm it was! I know I'm not normal and that most people would die for this weather in the middle of the winter...but I was really enjoying the snow and rain in Portland!

So now that Christmas is over, it's time to get ready for the baby. Only four more months to get things in order. It sounds like a lot of time but there's so much I still want to do! I guess it will help the time pass by faster! I'm so excited for him to get here! He's been moving a ton more lately. Lot's of pretty substantial kicking...or whatever it is he's doing in there. It makes me more at ease knowing he's doing ok, though....so I guess I'll put up with the repetitive movements in the wee hours of the night :). My tummy is definitely getting bigger too. I'll post a new belly shot as soon as I take one. Also, for all you mommies out there, any suggestions on a good jogging stroller? I've been doing some research and I think I'm probably going to go with either the BOB or the Bumbleride Indie. But I'm welcoming any other recommendations or comments on whatever.

What's New?

(Here's the most recent belly shot at 19.4 wks...)

Well Thanksgiving has come and gone and along with it our fun-filled, relaxing week in Utah. We had so much fun at Erin's wedding with Nathan's family and then at my sister's house with my family. I couldn't have asked for more. My parents came out from Virginia and we pretty much just ate good food and took turns playing with little Jake the entire week! It was awesome. Oh and I can't forget to mention--we did go see Twilight! We even managed to convince Dad, Nathan and Wes to come along! Jake liked it too... I think he especially liked being dressed in Twilight colors to match all the girls...sorry buddy...you'll have some say in life when you're older. Haha. It was a great week and I can't wait for the next time we all get together! Let's just say I was a little on the grumpy side the entire 9 hr drive back to Arizona. Sorry Nathan. I've made a New Year's Resolution to be more optimistic about Arizona though...so I'll do better...promise.

Thanksgiving Day...mmmmm

TWILIGHT!

Family picture at Thanksgiving

Another bit of news that we were blessed with the day before Thanksgiving was that Nathan had gotten the Air Force scholarship for Dental School. That basically means that he works as an Air Force Dentist for three years after he graduates and they pay for these next three years of school...plus we get a monthly stipend for living. I think it's a pretty good deal. And growing up in an Air Force family I'm used to the lifestyle. So we are excited about that. For some reason my desire to continue working part-time after the baby comes is constantly diminishing :). (who am I kidding...I never had a desire to keep working regardless!...hah!) But the Air Force is helping that be even more of a possibility right now and I'm ok with that.

Since Thanksgiving it's pretty much been back to school for Nathan and back to work for me. Nathan did very well his first quarter of school and is such a trooper...seeing him constantly studying definitely makes me so glad to be done with school. But he's always the positive one in our marriage...never worries about things like I do...just does what he has to do and rarely complains. He's an example to me and I'm so grateful for all of his hard work.

Last week Nathan had his White Coat Ceremony (all the health professions students are given white coats, make an oath, and prepare to enter their health fields). Apparently this is a pretty big deal, but of course Nathan was telling me for weeks not to switch my shifts to be there (don't worry I did it anyways)...he didn't even want to go himself. Typical. I told him to find out if all of his classmates were going...he comes home the day before the ceremony and tells me that people's parents are flying in for the thing! So of course, despite my nagging, he waits until the day of to call his sisters in Mesa and tell them about it (3 hrs before to be exact!). I felt so bad. Nobody was able to come at that point...and I know his mom would have come down from Vegas had she known. It was a lesson to me to take control in these situations in the future! Oh well...Nathan still could have cared less who was there...to him he felt like he hadn't really accomplished anything yet. But it was a nice ceremony and Nathan donned his white coat (the sleeves of which were up to his elbows! oops!). I'm very proud of him and to all of his family...don't worry you will know about his graduation in advance!

Nathan and a few of his buddies from Dental School

That same night we went and made gingerbread/winter wonderland creations at some friends house. Nathan created a pretty intense snowball fight scene between snowmen and gummi bears. We also went to this house in the area where this guy creates all of these christmas decorations and goes all out decorating his entire house (Christmas Vacation style!). He then opens his home to the public from Thanksgiving through Christmas. It was pretty cool.

This is us at the Christmas House

And here's Nathan with his Snowmen vs. Gummi Bears Snowball Fight

So that's what we've been up to. We're planning on going up to Oregon the day after Christmas to be with Nathan's family. I work Christmas Day-night. And we'll spend Christmas Eve and morning with Brooke and her family in Mesa. It should be good.

Baby update: nothing new. Still pluggin along. I'm coming up on 20 wks on Tuesday! Half-way there! And the belly is growing. My doctor said he was a little soccer player in there...moving around like crazy (I'm a little worried he's already got too much of his dad in him). I love feeling the little movements. It's such a fun thing. Nothing too elaborate yet...just little taps..."mom...am I done yet? tap, tap...can I come out?" haha...I know, I'm crazy.

This was a belly shot at Thanksgiving...17 wks-ish